


The Long Road

by UnapologeticallyMeatwad



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crimson Flower Route, Dark Retelling, Gen, War, hints of Byleth/Edelgard, or like darkER
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:47:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25786090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnapologeticallyMeatwad/pseuds/UnapologeticallyMeatwad
Summary: A retelling of Crimson Flower Chapter 11: The Throne of Knowledge, where Rhea was expecting an ambush.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 5
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

A plan was hatched a long time ago — attend school at Garreg Mach, find a way into the Holy Tomb, steal the Crest Stones, and build an army. It made sense, until Edelgard made friends in her class. She intentionally put on a cold demeanor, she already knew some of her peers from her childhood and she didn’t want to make this any more painful than it already was. But she couldn’t help it, she couldn’t help but be their friends and cherish them.

Edelgard was supposed to have a family after all — there were eleven Hresvelg children before they were brought to the Underground.

Then Edelgard met Byleth, the key to the whole plan. Before Byleth, Edelgard had no concept on how to get into the Holy Tomb but eventually, it became obvious — Rhea would need to bring Byleth to the Tomb at some point, Edelgard just needed to make sure she could be there.

The plan in the tomb itself was simple. Security at Garreg Mach was so rife with hubris that sneaking her army in was simple. All she had to do was get them into the Holy Tomb and let them steal the Crest Stones. But — there were precautions.

“What’s with the uniform?” Metodey sneers, arms crossed at his chest. He leans against a tree in the Sealed Forest. “Play at school is about to end.”

Edelgard suppresses a twitch in her eyebrow. “You will not hurt my friends.”

Metody smirks and licks his lip. The man is a sadist. 

“You aren’t supposed to be here,” Edelgard growls, fists clenched at her side. “It was supposed to be Randolph.”

“Oh, boo hoo,” Metody runs a finger down his cheek. “ _ Your Majesty, _ I’m going to hurt whoever I need to, now are you going to wear your stupid Flame Emperor mask or not?”

Edelgard frowns. She assumes this is Thales’ doing; he’s lost his faith in her, and now he attempts to control her every move. But what can she do? Disallow Metodey from coming? If she loses him, she loses the little army she needs for this to work.

Hours later, Edelgard is in the Holy Tomb. She hangs back when Byleth seats herself on the Throne of Knowledge. All of their Eagles gather around, waiting for something to happen. It makes Edelgard’s skin crawl, the way Rhea watches Byleth so intently. But she supposes she doesn’t need to care about that anymore, since it is all about to crumble.

Around Edelgard, her men work quickly and discreetly. Hiding beneath the tombs, they gently shift the stone caskets and slip their hands in, searching for the Crest Stones. It’s bound to not last very long, because soon —

— Byleth becomes bored and looks away from Rhea and out to Edelgard. She stares blankly and dumbly, the realization slowly coming into her eyes.

“ _ Don’t, _ ” Edelgard’s eyes urge Byleth, but it’s too late. Rhea finally figures out that nothing is going to happen on the Throne of Knowledge so she follows Byleth’s gaze out. Immediately, Rhea becomes enraged and goes for her sword, and now all of the Black Eagles are beginning to realize what exactly is going on.

Ferdinand speaks first, gaping. “Edelgard? You’re surrounded by — by thieves! Get out of there.”

Edelgard sighs. They think too highly of her. She supposes that it’s her own fault.

Too weak to say anything, Edelgard pulls free her ax and points it at Rhea’s chest. “Don’t do anything stupid, Rhea.”

Rhea grimaces and gnashes her teeth. “Byleth —  _ kill Edelgard. _ ”

Byleth steps off of the Throne and moves to Rhea’s side, hand not even close to the hilt of the Sword of the Creator. “Why? Edelgard — what… I don’t understand.”

How can they not understand? It’s so obvious.

Edelgard opens her mouth to explain, but no words come to her. It’s so simple, but she can’t say it. She can’t bear to destroy everything she is built with these people. So she restrains herself.

And instead it’s Rhea who says it, “Edelgard is The Flame Emperor.”

Like a knife sliding between her ribs, Edelgard is speechless. Coward, she couldn’t even tell her friends herself. Now the Black Eagles are looking at the soldiers and thieves scattered around the tomb, noting that they are all in the black armor the Flame Emperor’s troops wear. They look back to Edelgard who is still too weak to say anything, so she nods.

“No…” Byleth grunts.

“I’m sorry,” Edelgard says quickly. “I understand how this may appear to you, b-but this does not need to be violent. Stand back, and let us take the Crest Stones.”

“Infidels,” Rhea growls. “We are going to purge you from this world.”

Edelgard blinks. “I think that’s unlikel—”

“DUCK!” one of her soldiers screams. 

There’s this whirring sound, like arrows. Edelgard doesn’t want to duck, instead, she feels rage. Her power ignites and flames come to her hands, and shift around her ax. She twirls the ax around her in full circles, knocking away the incoming arrows and destroying them, her summoned fire growing larger and larger until the coast is clear. She drops the ax to her side, panting. 

Knights of Seiros emerge from behind the columns in the Holy Tomb. From the West End, Catherine comes out and from the East End comes Shamir. Alois from the North, from the entrance.

Rhea knew. Maybe not that Edelgard was the Flame Emperor, but that there would be some kind of ambush. 

Before the charge can truly begin, another wave of arrows shoot out from the dark, but not from any of her enemies. The arrows rain from above and pierce through the armor to several knights. All but one die on the spot. The last one gurgles until Metodey drops down from his hanging spot above, and cleaves his blade through the man’s neck. 

It’s before that knight’s head hits the floor that the charge begins. Knights swarm from all over. Edelgard isn’t given time to think or strategize; she wasn’t counting on this. She was counting on just needing to deal with Rhea. Now it’s Hell. She is easily outnumbered, and already lightning sparks are blasting off Thunderbrand as Catherine makes her way towards Metodey. 

Edelgard moves fast, her ax cuts through the chest plate to one knight and kills him. She has killed before, she’s even killed her own men in an attempt to pretend to be anyone but the Flame Emperor. But this feels so wrong. 

Edelgard decapitates another knight, and another. She’s held back her strength for so long and now she can just release — and she is taking on a whole army by herself. Perhaps the Imperials do stand a chance.

Then Edelgard hears a wild cry from ahead. She sees a sword shine, reflecting the light of Thunderbrand from across the room, and Rhea pushes through the knights and swings for Edelgard’s head. 

Edelgard ducks and backs away. She tries to use her ax to deflect blows from Rhea, but as strong as Edelgard is, Rhea is far more powerful and Edelgard feels her boots grind against the stone floor. 

“SEAL THE GATES!” Rhea screams before moving in for a stab to Edelgard’s chest. 

Edelgard dodges the stab and glances past her shoulder; guards are pushing the gates shut. They’re trapped. She looks back to Rhea and tries for a swing of her ax, but this time Rhea strikes the ax so hard that it cleaves Edelgard’s ax in two, leaving her with just a wooden handle. Edelgard drops the weapon and summons the fire, unleashing a flurry at Rhea.

But it does nothing. Rhea’s sword spins with the sway of the fire, and runs up against it, absorbing it, glowing brighter and brighter until the sword is almost blinding. “Heh,” Rhea cackles and moves in. She slashes and strikes Edelgard in the left arm. Edelgard screams, blood running down her whole arm, her nerves snapping and burning so hard that it all goes numb. She feels herself go limp, and Rhea grabs her by the chest, lifting her off the floor and into the air, angling the Sword of Seiros to her neck.

It’s humiliating. 

Then an inhuman scream from mere meters away. It’s enough to get even Rhea’s attention. 

It’s one of Edelgard’s soldiers. He steps out of Alois’ ax, blood running from his chest and neck. But something is wrong, the blood is black like oil and it consumes his whole body. He roars and grows, gaining claws and scales and rows upon rows of teeth. He becomes almost as large as the room itself, his eyes red and his mind gone. It screams again and the volume kicks up a torrent of wind that blows several of the soldiers away.

Edelgard grimaces and takes advantage of the moment to headbutt Rhea, knocking her back. She even manages to snatch the Sword of Seiros from her reach, before stepping back and leaning into a fighting stance. Edelgard scans the room fast and sees Metodey dodge another swing of Thunderbrand. Catherine is at full power now, the sparks consuming nearly a quarter of the room and still Metodey manages to slip between the crackles of lightning. 

“FOR THE EMPIRE!” Metodey shouts. “If you’re about to drop, grab your Crest Stone now.”

Several of Edelgard’s men cheer before grabbing onto their Crest Stones.

“NO! STOP!” Edelgard screams, and her ears ring. She hears an echo of herself — or rather — someone else saying the same thing. Her eyes lock with Byleth across the room, who is begging one of the Knights of Seiros to  _ not _ kill one of the Imperials. 

Two other Black Beasts spring up from the corpses, and everything goes into chaos. The Knights get away from their one-on-one conflicts and gather around the Black Beasts, leaving Edelgard with Rhea and Metodey with Catherine. 

Edelgard doesn’t want this; she never wanted this. She doesn’t want to use the beasts, she doesn’t even know why she wants the Crest Stones so badly. The creation of Black Beasts is all Thales uses them for.

Edelgard looks to Rhea, “Let us go. If we keep fighting, there will be more Black Beasts.”

Rhea raises her fists, spiked gauntlets shining just above the knuckles. “I will never yield to someone as horrible as  _ you _ .”

Edelgard narrows her eyes and raises the Sword of Seiros with her left hand. For a moment she forgets that her right arm was nearly severed from the shoulder.

Rhea leaps high into the air, likely aiming to dropkick Edelgard into dust. But just as she comes down, a nauseous wave of black energy blasts out from behind Edelgard and knocks Rhea out of the air and crashes her into the ground. She feels a familiar hand brush against her shoulder, and hears Hubert’s lowly cackle. 

“We need to escape,” Hubert sighs, moving past her, with a limp of his own. He points at the Throne of Knowledge, where their classmates still stand. “There.”

Edelgard frowns; there is a getaway behind the Throne, but it’s not one that leads to land. It just goes deeper into the tomb.

A Knight of Seiros gets in front of them, lance ready to kill them, but Hubert pays him no mind. He waves his hand and summons a horrible Banshee spell that eats the man from the inside, and implodes him, bloody flesh smacking against the floor. 

And that’s it. No other Knights of Seiros come for them. Too occupied by the monsters, The Black Beasts were at least successful in giving the Flame Emperor some reprieve. Now, beaten, battered, and bloodied soldiers in black armor surround the two of them in a close huddle, hoping their fearless leader has some kind of strategy.

Edelgard and Hubert step over Rhea’s fallen body and Edelgard looks up the ledge to Byleth. She opens her mouth to negotiate, but Hubert moves first and Dark Spikes appear around Byleth’s neck, angled for the kill. 

The Dark Spikes materialize around all of the Black Eagles, and all Hubert needs to do is snap his fingers. 

“You take the East Staircase down,” Hubert clicks his tongue. “We’ll go up the West. Am I understood?”

All of the Black Eagles are speechless. They have been frozen in place for minutes on end now. 

Byleth sighs and turns on her heel, plodding over to the East Staircase just as Hubert asked. One by one, the Eagles do the same, all of them giving one last parting glance to Edelgard before shifting away. When it’s clear that it’s safe, their army moves quickly, advancing up the West at a sprint, and gathering behind the throne. The most able men move to the front and grab the stone doors, pulling as hard as they can. 

Meanwhile, more and more men gather. Though it’s not good for Edelgard to stand alone and leave herself open to attack, she takes the watchdog duty of keeping her people away from the Black Eagles. Even Metody, with more bloodlust than even Rhea, obeys her here, and steps into the crowd.

Eventually, they pry the door open and escape through the passage. The moment they’re clear, Hubert turns around and blows up the getaway, causing a shower of stone to fall over the door and seal them in. Then they run. They run until they can’t run anymore, they run through the dark, trying to absorb details about the underground passages but it’s nigh impossible.

After what feels like an hour passes by, they hit a dead end. The soldiers slump against the floor. Edelgard does a head count — they lost more than half their men in that first assault. With no way to call reinforcements, trapped in a tomb… she doesn’t see how they can come out of this alive. 

“If we can figure out how to activate these,” Hubert muses, eyes glued to a small army of mechanically golems lined up against the wall. “We might be able to take the advantage. I think it’s our last bet.”

Edelgard sighs. He is probably right. She wishes Linhardt were here, she bets he could figure this out for them.

A hand squeezes her bleeding shoulder and it burns as painfully as it did when it was first cut. She howls in agony as Metodey swings her around and slams her against one of the golems. He raises a knife to her throat and draws blood fast.

Hubert screams, “What are you—”

“Kill me, and she goes too,” Metodey snarls, his voice calmer than she has ever heard before. He stares deep into her soul. “I don’t care what you think of our methods, those Black Beasts saved us you fool.” He lets that sink in; she knows he’s right. “If you contradict one of my orders again, I will kill you. Do you understand me?”

Edelgard tries to nod, but it brings her jaw up against the blade. “Yes,” she whispers.

“Good.” He drops her and turns around. “We have an hour. Figure out these golems.”

“An hour?!” Hubert sputters.

Metodey narrows his eyes. “They’re regrouping, and the longer we wait, the more soldiers we’ll have to deal with. We’re already fucked, but if we can get the golems running in an hour, we stand a chance.”

Hubert crosses his arms. “And if we don’t?”

Metodey clicks his tongue. “Then I’ll  _ brutalize _ all of you, and escape alone. Doesn’t bother me much. Clearly I have no future with the Empire. Am I understood?”

Metodey struts away, and Hubert looks to Edelgard. Just like her, he’s speechless.

She nods towards the golems; they have work to do.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth leads the Eagles, Deer, and Lions through the Holy Tomb to find Edelgard.

It takes two large groups of men to creak open the stone doors to the Holy Tomb. Morning light slips into the tomb and in steps Dimitri and Claude, bowing past the army like two children slipping past their mother. Though Rhea eyes them with pride. She steps to the crack and looks through to see Seteth.

Byleth pushes her way to the front, nosey as ever. Though she’s known for some time that Seteth was a Wyvern Rider, it still throws her off to see him on his mount, especially with Flayn wrapped around his back.

“Rhea, do you need me in there?” Seteth asks.

“No, we should be fine,” Rhea sighs. “Stay airborne; I don’t know what they are planning.”

“Planning? They’re trapped, a perimeter in the air won’t help us,” Byleth sighs. 

Rhea flinches, but decides not to address it.

More children duck through the gap in the door. Felix, Ingrid, Leonie, Lysithea, Lorenz, Ashe… all of the Blue Lions and Golden Deer in fact. They gather around their respective house leader. Though Byleth is thankful they can likely offer her students some kind of emotional support, she still feels anger. Instead of choking it back, she stays besides Rhea and Seteth and holds her shoulders high.

“Where are other Knights of Seiros?” Byleth barks.

Rhea looks to Byleth dimly, playing a bad act of not even being aware Byleth was there to begin with. “They’re positioned around Garreg Mach. Snipers on the roof, pegasi in the air, no matter what Edelgard does we’ll catch her.”

Byleth narrows her eyes and leans in, speaking at a course whisper. “The students should be out there on the defense, and it’s your knights who should be in here. Change course now.”

A flash of red in Rhea’s eyes, it’s too uncommon to see nowadays. “You know why it is this way, Professor, and I suggest you not get any louder or the students may hear you.”

Rhea is planning on a failsafe where she sacrifices whoever goes after Edelgard most likely, and she needs it to be the less experienced troops. Byleth can’t stomach it, she almost envies Edelgard for being the one to rebel against all of this.

“Rhea,” Seteth pants, leaning in, just one of his eyes visible between the doors. “Is this war?”

“Yes,” Byleth answers before Rhea can. “Edelgard is Emperor now.”

Rhea blinks. She hates not being in the know. “When?”

“Recently,” Byleth says. “She took me to her coronation.”

“And you didn’t think to tell us?” Rhea snaps.

“She’s my friend,” Byleth frowns. “How long have you suspected her?”

Rhea shakes her head, noticeably pulling back in distance from Byleth. “Long enough, my child. I suppose we should have — ”

“I didn’t know,” Seteth pipes in, earning himself a glower from Rhea. He coughs into his hand and draws back. “Uh, very well. I shall, erm, survey the skies. Stay safe.”

Byleth groans and turns away, moving quickly to escape Rhea’s orbit. She does  _ not _ want to deal with her right now. Too many things are starting to make sense now. But because she can’t help herself, and because Jeralt would probably do the same thing, Byleth looks back at Rhea with such scorn. “I can see now why Edelgard is fighting you.”

Byleth turns away with the swish of her cloak before Rhea can retort. That might bite her in the ass later, but she’s sick of it. Graduation day is coming soon and this will hopefully all be over by then. She moves over to the Throne of Knowledge where she notices Petra staring very intently at the rubble wall Hubert sent crashing down. 

“What’s up?” Byleth asks.

Petra blinks and turns back. “I hear something. It’s… like this metal creaking. Do you hear it?”

“No,” Byleth shakes her head. “But I trust you.”

* * *

Byleth takes command early and arranges her army in a half-circle around the rubble, with the few Knights of Seiros that are present lined up front. Eventually, the metal creaking does become more noticeable, on a level where it’s hardly a surprise. Whatever it is… it must be big for them to have heard it for so long. They wait so long for this — machine? Machines make sounds like that, right? — to come to the frontlines that the students eventually break into conversation.

Linhardt is excited to see what this is, his guess is that Edelgard must have found something deep within the Holy Tomb that she is now operating. Though he attempts to charge Rhea and beg her for information, Byleth holds Linhardt back and asks him to behave.

Claude chats up a storm, somehow scrounging up jokes and one liners from nowhere. Every loud  _ creak!  _ that passes, Claude has another yuck up his sleeve. Byleth is deeply thankful for that. 

Dimitri however is dead silent. His intensity is unsettling, not just for Byleth, but seemingly everyone. Several of the Blue Lions cast nervous glances his way every now and then. She has heard that he has been having sleeping troubles, but she feels that his anger is likely deeper than that. 

It is surreal when after all this waiting, a bright green saber larger than a body rips through the stone wall. It glows bright and waves of electricity ripple off the blade and send the rocks flying in an avalanche that trails across the whole room. Soldiers dive off to the side, just managing to avoid getting crushed and the creaking gets the loudest it’s gotten when this totem — mechanical golem? whatever it may be — slides into the room, holding the saber high.

It sputters, the avalanche having ripped off some of the golem’s skin, and smoke plumes off the edges. It’s unstable.

Assuming the creature isn’t sentient and won’t be able to run inferences off her commands, Byleth stands tall and commands everyone to draw back. Thankfully, she has enough control over the three houses that they listen to her and sprint away. Which works out great when the smoke trailing from the creature goes red and it explodes violently, taking out several of the Knights of Seiros charging at it. The Knights of Seiros who didn’t listen to Byleth.

At least it wasn’t her students. Byleth feels heat rising to her temple; Edelgard sent this thing down here as a suicide bomber. Thoughtless. Or maybe Edelgard thinks too highly of Rhea and expected that she would be attacking knights and not children.

When the smoke finally fades, Byleth can see the tunnel Edelgard escaped down. She imagines it must be far longer than it appears for them to have listened to that creature approaching them for so long. She sighs and grabs for the Sword of the Creator, which casts a glow at her touch. She motions for the Eagles, Lion, and Deer to follow her and moves into the tunnel.

* * *

“I don’t get it,” Claude sighs finally. “Edelgard is smarter than this.”

Byleth raises an eyebrow and looks to the boy. Though Claude stares at his boots stomping across the dark stone, he manages to notice her. “We all knew Edelgard wanted to see a change. She talked about it so often…”

Byleth nods. Edelgard was always asking Byleth weird hypotheticals about what she would do if for some reason she had to fight the Goddess or something…

“How is it stupid, though?” Byleth sighs. “I don’t understand.”

Claude’s frown deepens. “Violence never solves anything; people will just think you’re crazy, and then they won’t listen.”

“Could we stop talking about this?” Dimitri growls.

“What — why?” Claude gapes. “It’s interesting.”

“Interesting for you, maybe,” Dorothea scowls. “We all know you want to do the same thing as her, Claude. Except you just want to schmooze your way to the top, like every other noble.”

Claude recovers fast. “Well, I’d like to think I have better intentions than most nobles.”

“Ugh,” Caspar groans now. “I’m with Big D, can we just stop? Edelgard’s our friend, we’re going to find her and talk to her…”

Dimitri flashes Caspar a scathing look, one that thankfully Caspar doesn’t notice. But Byleth sees it. The man is positively brimming with rage, but she doesn’t understand what he could possibly be so worked up about.

“I doubt we’ll be able to  _ talk _ ,” Claude snips. “If Edelgard wanted to talk, she would have by now — with Rhea. She would have put more thought in, but no, Edelgard wants a war so we’ll have to fight.”

Caspar bashes his knuckle against his nose. “Hey! She’s our friend.”

“Is she? Or was she just using your class to get into the Holy Tomb?” Claude asks. “It’s what I’d do if I was a warlord.”

“Claude…” Hilda tries to grab his shoulder, but he shrugs her off.

“Face it, Edelgard is against the Church,” Claude winds both elbows behind his head. “So unless some of us make some moves, we’re against Edelgard.”

Byleth glances back at Claude. Though the tunnel is narrow and their army tightly packed, they are beginning to spread out, largely to get away from this. Ferdinand in particular trails a hand along the wall, which is most unlike him. That’s more like something Bernadetta would do, she likes to run her hand through hedges she walks past. So why is Ferdinand…

“C’mon Teach,” Claude chuckles. “Don’t try to deny you’re having second thoughts; we can all see it.”

Byleth blinks and notices several pairs of eyes falling on her expectantly. Specifically her Eagles, all wanting her to agree. But she can’t say that, she’s the authority figure here. They’re going to get killed if she admits she doesn’t want to fight. 

“I want to talk to her,” Byleth grunts.

“Talk is cheap,” Dimitri says suddenly, his voice far deeper and darker than usual. “We need to squash the vermin out before it becomes a problem.”

Okay,  _ maybe _ it’s time to discipline. She doesn’t care who this kid is, she’s not letting him anywhere near Edelgard with that attitude. She turns to face Dimitri and consequently, Ferdinand jabbing his sword at the wall. What is he —

— a soldier materializes out of nothingness, slumping over Ferdinand’s sword which is firmly embedded in his chest. Wha—

The darkness pulls away, like a cloth being pulled from a table revealing two lines of soldiers surrounding the Eagle, Lion, and Deer. 

“HUBERT!” Ferdinand’s voice cracks as he screams it. The inky black pulls back into one void towards the end of the hall, and for a moment, a scowling Hubert reveals himself among the black before disappearing. Recklessly, Ferdinand charges ahead.

The surrounding soldiers in black armor close in on the Officer’s Academy and blades start clashing with no time to organize or strategize. Byleth kills her foes easily and turns to her students. The Sword of the Creator is no good in tight spaces, if she were to unleash its full strength and let it extend, she might hit one of her own.

Thankfully, Dimitri’s blunt force dismantles almost a third of the ambushers on his own. He could have killed more if he hadn’t spent so much time relishing in it. For his last kill, Dimitri grabs a man cut through the stomach and crushes his skull in with his bare hand. He cackles.

“RETREAT!” Ferdinand calls out, running past Byleth in a full-on sprint. Looking back, green light peeks through the makeshift black aura Hubert created and out comes another golem. Its girth takes up the whole hallway, and its sword angles like a jousting spear. Byleth motions for everyone to follow Ferdinand and starts running herself. If she looks down, she can see some of the golem’s saber’s light trailing after, illuminating the ground near her feet.

They run until side tunnels appear to the left and right and without hesitation, the students burrow into them and out of harm’s way. 

Foolishly, the machine blasts past the students crowded in heaps on top of each other. The sound dies away, only to be occupied by more mechanical beasts rolling about elsewhere in the tunnel. Byleth frowns and looks to her Eagles across the way. “We need to find Edelgard and end this.”

“No, we need to separate that sick head from her neck,” Dimitri hisses, barreling into the hall, blood dripping off his gauntlets. He sprints off, screaming bloody murder like a complete moron. Goddess why.

Dedue sidesteps out and makes to follow Dimitri.

“Dedue, what are you doing?” Byleth shouts.

“Uh, supervising,” Dedue quips before moving into his own sprint, but Felix and Sylvain promptly leap out and grab him by the shoulders, hoisting him back.

“Stop it, you idiot,” Felix swears. “I don’t give a damn how much you owe your life to him, you can’t keep following him.”

“But,” Dedue grunts, trying to pull Sylvain and Felix off, which for a man of Dedue’s size, is entirely doable.

A spark of pink magic and the three boys are sent tumbling to the ground, a thin barrier blocking them away from the path Dimitri took. Mercedes steps forward, hands outstretched. “Felix is right, Dedue. You’ve given Dimitri more than enough, let him do this alone. We can’t follow him to our deaths” She casts a glance to Claude, who is apparently the authority figure now. “I don’t think this makes sense. We should wait outside in the main room. Edelgard will have to come out eventually. There’s no other way, right?”

“Too true,” Claude chirps. “Though, if some of us hang back in here, we could do a pincer attack and—”

“You  _ always _ want to do a pincer attack,” Hilda moans.

“—w-well, they work, and—”

“No, they suck,” Byleth shakes her head. “We just got hit with one and destroyed the enemy anyways.”

Claude scowls, and then shrugs. “Too true.”

Byleth shakes her head, “I want to talk to Edelgard. She can’t win this fight, so there’s no reason for us to strategize how to best kill her.”

Claude raises an eyebrow. “How do you figure that?”

“Because she’s out of soldiers. I counted.”

* * *

Byleth decides to minimize forces and only brings Claude, under the agreement that he will only speak if his rhetoric is needed. 

Edelgard must feel like a cornered animal at this point. Bringing in any more people than Claude already has is bound to scare her and make the Emperor freak, and Byleth doesn’t want that. She just wants to talk this through. Even if that talk means that she, Byleth, defects from the Church. And if she then has to turn on Claude who will never go down a bloody path.

It makes Byleth feel almost guilty. But she’d prefer Claude here with her where she can keep an eye on him rather than leaving him to scheme Rhea.

There is a slight shift in the shadows, and Byleth doesn’t hear anything until a venom-soaked sword runs against her throat. A soft cackle escapes Metodey who roughly pulls Byleth back. 

Claude turns on his heel and raises his bow, but it’s too late for him to save Byleth like this. He winces, fingers not even bothering to pull back the bowstring. He just stands there.

“Where’s Edelgard?” Byleth growls.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Metodey whispers, bringing the blade closer.

“What is there to gain from this?” Byleth spits. “You’re alone, all you need to do is escape. But if you hold me any longer, I promise that he’ll kill you.” She looks to Claude who then finally pulls on the goddamn bowstring. 

“I don’t have a future with the Empire,” Metodey hisses. “They don’t like failures like me, but at least I can take you with me — ”

_ CRASH!  _ goes the stone wall behind them, and like a demon lashing out from the pits of Hell, Dimitri breaks through the stone and full-on body checks Metodey out of the way. The venom sword clatters to the ground. Dimitri doesn’t slow down and raises his lance high, running it clean through Metodey’s throat, his body jerking back violently as blood splatters across the ground.

“ _ Heh heh _ .” Dimitri laughs.

Goddess, Byleth hopes she heard that wrong.

Dimitri grabs the limp corpse by the shoulder and yanks it off the lance, throwing it to the ground before turning to face Claude and Byleth. “Where are the others?”

“Watching the entrance,” Claude says. Byleth notes how Claude still holds the bowstring taut. Dimitri notices too and shakes his head. 

“Very well, all that’s needed is myself,” Dimitri says. “You two should go back. I’ll return with that woman’s head.”

Byleth sprints ahead of him and holds her arms out wide. “No.”

Dimitri narrows his eyes. “Excuse me? Do you know what she’s done?!”

“She robbed some graves,” Byleth spits. “It’s really not that big of a — ”

“SHE’S DONE FAR WORSE THAN—”

“Whoa, whoa,” Claude coos, getting between them, gently pressing his hand up against Dimitri’s chest. “Be cool, dude. Unless there’s something we don’t know—”

“Clearly!” Dimitri spits.

Somehow, Claude manages to hold it together. “— Teach just wants to talk to her, which is a-okay with me. If you can’t handle that, you’re the one who needs to go back.” And when that doesn’t seem like enough, he adds on, “I don’t know if you picked up on this yet, Big D, but Rhea put us in here as sacrifices so all the  _ good soldiers _ will be left in case we fail.”

Dimitri glowers. “Fine. Lead the way.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth, Claude, and Dimitri corner Edelgard.

The trio find Edelgard easily. It is so easy that Byleth feels sorry for her. This really isn’t fair. With nearly her whole army dead, her Crest Stone scheme in ruins, the trio catches Edelgard watching them from behind a corner. Immediately, she runs. It’s possible it’s a trap, but Byleth is willing to chance it. They run after her and wind up at a dead end.

It’s a large room lined with rows of columns, making it impossible to see the full scale of the room at once. Edelgard is almost certainly hidden behind one of the columns, waiting for one of them to slip up and make a mistake.

“Edelgard, come out,” Byleth shouts. “We just want to talk.”

“Talk is cheap!” Dimitri growls, running ahead, lance arm raised high. Great. Totally what she and Dimtri agreed on being acceptable. Whatever. He is probably planning on shattering all of the columns until only Edelgard is left.

Byleth lurches towards Dimitri and latches onto him, pulling him back, pressing her back up against the wall. He screams, fighting hard against her hold, and he kicks at her. It definitely leaves ugly bruises, but Byleth won’t let him screw this up. 

“Stop it,” Byleth hisses. “You’re making us an open target.” She needs to talk his language if she’s going to get him to stop being such a fucking asshole.

“No you are,” Dimitri spits.

Byleth resists rolling their eyes and looks to Claude, who takes the initiative and bows behind a set of columns so fast that Byleth loses track of him immediately.

“Why are you doing this Edelgard?” Claude spits, throwing his voice so that it bounces in from all directions.

There’s a hesitation in the quiet, and then Edelgard speaks. “You know why this is necessary.” 

Edelgard’s voice bounces off the walls too; Byleth feels a smidgen of pride for her student not making this any easier for her enemies.

“No, I really don’t,” Claude says. “I want the Church to go away too, but you don’t see me robbing graves and threatening the archbishop with war!”

“Then you’re weak!” Edelgard spits. “This is the only way. These people don’t listen to us, the only way to save Fodlan is to conquer it.”

Claude noticeably pauses to collect his thoughts, so Byleth interjects, “This isn’t theoretical! This is real, people are going to die if we go to war, Edelgard.”

“Different people are dying _ now, _ ” Edelgard responds fast. “In our short time at the Officer’s Academy, how many have you met whose lives were ruined by Crests and nobility?”

Byleth flinches. The answer is too many.

When no one responds, Edelgard continues, “Ashe. Sylvain. Ingrid. Mercedes. Marianne. Lysithea. Claude. Dimitri.”

Very clever Edelgard, saying the boys’ names like that.

She appears, standing ramrod straight between two columns. “ _ Me _ .”

Byleth meets her eyes, and tightens her hold on Dimitri. He writhes. “Damn you...  _ El! _ ”

A quiet  _ plink!  _ Like an arrow flying from a bow… why would — oh God, no. Byleth looks to Edelgard again and screams, “Edelgard!”

Edelgard flinches and throws up a wall of fire around her and an arrow slinks in, crumbling away immediately. When the wall fades, there’s a splatter of ash across Edelgard’s forehead, which is where the arrow would have hit if Byleth hadn’t warned her.

“Claude!” Byleth barks.

A panicked Edelgard ducks away. 

“Sorry, Teach,” Claude shouts from far off, his voice not bouncing off the walls now. He’s shaking, and not focusing right. It’s really obvious where he’s hiding no. But what is Byleth supposed to do? Tell him to get it together and tip Edelgard off to the dead giveaway he’s made too?

Claude continues, “Teach doesn’t want you dead, and I don’t either. But if I’m going to do what I want to Fodlan, I can’t be the guy who tried to let you live. You gotta go.”

Footfalls now, Byleth hears Edelgard running. Somehow, Claude doesn’t notice, doesn’t hear the footsteps fast approaching him. 

“There is no way you can live,” Claude shouts. “Rhea won’t allow it — and you can bet she’ll make it painful. So let me kill you, Edelgard — or, what did Dimitri call you?  _ El? _ ”

The footfalls land harder.

A jump in Claude’s voice. He knows she’s coming for him. “I’ll make it quick and easy,” he says. “And you won’t feel—”

An ax arcs through the air and crashes down. Claude screams, howls in absolute agony. Byleth isn’t even sure what to feel. The two of them emerge from behind the column, and it’s already over. Blood pours through Claude’s thick cape and falls to the floor. He swings some kind of venom soaked sword at Edelgard, and she dodges it with ease. She moves in and —

— cuts —

— Claude’s —

— head —

— off.

No no, Edelgard, why. Why.

Edelgard stands there, ax resting against her leg, eyes wide and still, focused on the body she just eviscerated. Byleth thinks that she might be in shock.

There’s a roar from Dimitri and Byleth’s arms fly back like they were smacked by a hurricane. Dimitri rushes forward — Byleth guesses that she herself might be in shock too. But she needs to pull herself out of it. 

Dimitri smashes his way past the columns, making a direct line to Edelgard. She doesn’t even seem to notice him, she stands as still as a corpse, seemingly waiting for him to sink his lance into her throat. 

Byleth somehow finds it in herself to outpace Dimitri and grabs him from behind, her wrists clicking against his throat. He howls and flips her over him, throwing her into a column. “TRAITOR!” Dimitri sneers, dashing past her and bringing his lance high. Edelgard finally comes out of her trance, Byleth thinks it’s because Edelgard heard Byleth scream when her back slammed against solid stone. Because Edelgard cares so deeply for her.

Edelgard matches Dimitr’s first blow with her ax, and though lancer users usually falter against ax men, Dimitri decimates Edelgard’s ax. The head falls off the handle and she scrambles back. 

“Answer me this, Edelgard,” Dimitri growls, his voice deep and gravelly. “You killed your own mother, and yet you haven’t even had the decency to stop and consider the reasons behind your actions. Have you?!”

Edelgard flinches. “I already told you, I had nothing to do with that.”

Byleth believes her. 

“No!” Dimitri screams. “The Tragedy of Duscurr — ”

“ — I was a child — ” Edelgard shakes.

“ — it was  _ you _ ,” Dimitri gets closer.

There’s a gleam in Edelgard’s eye and she leans back. “Did my Uncle feed you this?”

Dimitri draws closer.

“My Uncle is — ” Edelgard hesitates. “ — he’s horrible. He’s the man you know as Thales…” She steps over Claude’s corpse. “He is the cause of Remire… of Duscurr.”

“You were the one at Remire,  _ Flame Emperor, _ ” Dimitri hisses.

Edelgard furrows her brow. “I only work with them because I have to! I need their power, I need their power to save Fodlan, and then — I will kill them. I will kill all of his kind, all of those who slither in the dark. Dimitri, we share a common foe, it doesn’t need to — ”

Dimitri doesn’t care. He moves at her again.

Edelgard summons more fire that flanks her, it becomes so thick she can hardly be seen through the blaze. Even from several meters away, Byleth feels compelled to back off from the intense heat. Yet Dimitri goes right through it and backhands Edelgard across the room. She flies into a wall and crumples against the floor.

Dimitri, now with a blackened and soot-ridden cloak, marches towards Edelgard slowly. He grabs her by the lower back, his whole body arched over hers, and he raises the lance.

Byleth gets up; she doesn’t know what to do. Then she remembers — the Sword of the Creator works well in large rooms like this.

“Dimitri,” Edelgard whispers. “Don’t. Don’t make me kill you.”

Dimitri’s smile is so wide that Byleth can see it etch across his cheek from behind. “You little fool.”

Byleth goes for the Sword of the Creator. It detaches and darts across the room, shifting into its full length. She intends on stabbing him in the back and pulling him off of her.

But Edelgard is even faster than Byleth. She pulls a dagger hidden away in her school uniform and raises it to Dimitri’s face. He screams and falls back, the Sword of the Creator soaring over him and striking the wall near Edelgard’s shoulder. 

Dimitri screams, Edelgard’s knife sticking out of his right eye. It’s not embedded all the way, some of the metal still shines in the light. He might live. But he goes quiet fast. 

Edelgard stares at him with such contempt. Byleth walks up to his body and reaches out for the knife.

“Don’t,” Edelgard says, finally meeting her eyes. “That knife is the only thing preventing blood loss.”

Byleth nods and looks back to Edelgard. In her own shock, she must have forgotten how this works. 

“Come with me,” Byleth reaches out her hand. Edelgard has always talked about reaching her hand out for others, now it’s Byleth’s turn. “I’ll keep you safe. I won’t let them kill you, and we can talk to Rhea.”

Edelgard frowns. “Wh-what?”

“I believe you, I believe everything you say,” Byleth urges. “Come. Please.”

Edelgard hesitates. She clearly doesn’t think this will do any good. But nevertheless, she gets up and grabs onto Byleth’s hand firmly.


	4. Chapter 4

Edelgard slumps against her prison cell, elbows folded around her knees. Apparently, Rhea tried to kill her the second she came out of the tunnel, hand in hand with Byleth, and Edelgard blacked out. When Edelgard woke up she was here. For a few hours, she tried to listen in on what the guards were chattering about and apparently there will be an execution. So that’s fun.

So promptly and deftly has her vision for the future been destroyed. Father will be disappointed when he hears of this, if the fools at Enbarr even let him hear of it.

She wishes she were dead. She wishes Byleth let Dimitri kill her. 

She wishes that she didn’t snap and kill Claude. He was right to shoot at her.

A knuckle raps against the bars to her cell, bringing her back to the present world. Edelgard turns and sees a very serious looking Byleth crouched down in the shadows. “Hi,” she says. 

Edelgard doesn’t say anything. Is this it? Is her teacher going to lead her to her execution?

“I don’t know if I fully understand what it is that you are doing,” Byleth sighs. “But I trust you.”

Edelgard nods. She does probably owe Byleth a full explanation. “My teacher, I… I didn’t want any of you to get hurt. I tried — ”

“Hush,” Byleth says and pulls a set of keys from under her cape. She shifts to her knees and rattles the keys into the keyhole. “We need to talk logistics. I bribed the Gatekeeper but, uh, I don’t think we have long.”

Edelgard raises an eyebrow. What on Earth is happening? “Professor… I don’t understand.”

“I’m breaking you out.”

“Surely not,” Edelgard pouts. “I’m… a criminal.”

“I don’t think so.”

“So what?” Edelgard says as the door creaks open. “You’re bringing me to the outskirts of Garreg Mach and letting me go?”

“I’m going with you,” Byleth holds out her hand and looks at Edelgard very intently. “All of us are. Come.”

“But…”

“Edelgard, please. The longer you stall, the worse it’s going to…”

“ _ Greetings Professor _ !” a familiar voice chirps from down the hall. Byleth retracts her hand and scrambles to her feet. Absently, they reach into their hilt and hand Edelgard a spare sword. Edelgard takes it and steps out in the hall. 

It’s the Gatekeeper — flanked by an entire squad of goons spearheaded by Catherine.

“I’ve got something to report,” the Gatekeeper pleads before Thunderbrand conks him upside the head and sends him tumbling. Catherine steps forward, sword glowing. 

“There has to be an explanation for this, Professor,” Catherine growls. “Tell me this isn’t what it looks like.”

“It is,” Byleth shrugs. “I believe Edelgard.”

Edelgard blinks rapidly. What…? 

Byleth… believes in her? Edelgard checks Catherine’s expression, trying to sense if this is candid or staged. Another humiliation for the girl from Enbarr, surely. 

“Crests are wrong, nobility is corrupt,” Byleth unsheathes the Sword of the Creator. “You’ve seen it, Catherine. You’ve killed people… civilians, all to protect Rhea. You know this is wrong.”

Catherine shakes her head and runs at Byleth, power crackling off her sword. Byleth screams and charges Catherine, her sword doing the same. When they clash, light flares across the room, bringing Edelgard back to the present. The whole squad is after her, spears raised high. Edelgard doesn’t want this to continue, but her body moves automatically and she cleaves through them with ease. Their blood is real, this is all real. 

The corpses fall around her feet and when she looks up, she sees Catherine still clashing with Byleth. With Catherine gaining the upper-hand, probably because Byleth did most of the work within the Holy Tomb. 

Edelgard runs ahead, she doesn’t really know how she can help, but she is not letting Byleth die. 

“ _ I’ve seen enough _ ,” a voice that sounds very much like Hubert’s drawls.

Then a blast of black magic from the dark, a Mire spell it looks like. It strikes Catherine in the torso, and she drops Thunderbrand. For a moment her body just hangs there like a ragdoll, completely open for the kill. Edelgard feels a thirst come to her lips, a heat rising to her temple. She wants to sprint ahead and chop Catherine clean in two.

But instead Byleth rams the hilt of the Sword of the Creator against Catherine’s forehead, and knocks her out. Edelgard has to very consciously stop herself from getting any closer. She’s always loathed Catherine, hates that she hangs near Rhea as an abhorrent and amoral yesman. But Byleth apparently cares about her so Edelgard needs to try to as well.

Byleth sheathes the sword and pulls the Gatekeeper off the ground, lugging him over her shoulder. She looks into the dark. “I’m on your side.”

Hubert steps out of the dark, coy as ever. He smiles. “Obviously. Welcome to the resistance, Professor.”

Byleth frowns. “How long have you been here?”

“Since you got here,” Hubert snips before turning to Edelgard. “I wanted to see what you’d do. Of course, I would have killed you if you made any errors. Your Majesty, are you — ”

“Yes,” Edelgard says, lurching forward and hugging Hubert very suddenly. Carefully, he places his large hands on her back before he reverts to business. “I’m so happy you made it out,” she says before they talk strategy. 

Hubert smiles. “As am I. Now I have a strategy for our escape, but I’d like to hear your idea, Professor. Surely you have one.”

Byleth frowns. “Uh. Heh.”

Hubert’s eyes widen. “Oh. Erm. Very well, I’ll, uh, lead the way.”

The escape isn’t too bad, it’s less tense because of the possibility of getting ambushed in the underground, and more because of the lack of talking. Hubert and Byleth don’t say anything, and Edelgard sure as Hell has nothing to say. Which is odd. 

“Wait,” Byleth says when they cross the Abysskeeper. Gently, she passes the Gatekeeper over to his arms. “The Knights of Seiros will kill this man. Can you keep him safe?”

“Long as Mr. Backup doesn’t stop by,” the Abysskeeper sighs, slinging the Gatekeeper across his shoulders.

Edelgard can see sadness in Byleth’s eyes, and desperate to talk about  _ something _ , she starts a conversation. “What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” Byleth sighs. “I don’t think the Gatekeeper would defect for us.”  _ Us _ . “I took advantage of his willingness to make others happy. It was wrong. Come, we need to make a stop on campus.”

Hubert stops in place. “What?!” 

Byleth raises an eyebrow. “The Black Eagles, they’re coming with us.”

“Oh,” Hubert sighs and checks Edelgard for guidance.

Edelgard frowns. “That’s foolish. This is war, my teacher. People will die.”

Byleth shrugs with her usual aloofness. “They want to come along. They care about you, Edelgard.”

Edelgard slumps. She can’t imagine facing her friends now, now that they know the truth of who she really is and what she really wants. She almost told them moons ago, the night of the ball… when she suggested they return to Garreg Mach five years from now. It was scripted in her mind as the beginning of the truth.

But she hesitated; she didn’t do it and now…

“I don’t understand why they want this,” Edelgard admits.

Byleth’s expression softens. “It’s okay. We’ll get into it later, are you… comfortable coming with me? Or do you two want to stay down here.”

Edelgard looks to Hubert; his discomfort is plain to see. “Why don’t you see what you can put together to make our escape easier? I’m sure someone hiding down here would appreciate the work. I’ll go with the Professor.”

Hubert frowns. “No… I should be there. Otherwise they’ll just think it’s a plot for me to kill them from the shadows.” He shakes his head. “I know what people say about me.”

“Hm,” Edelgard chews on her lip. “Very well. Professor?”

Gaining the students is chilling. Sneaking around their school stomping grounds in an increasingly growing group is unideal. Thankfully, Byleth has the sense to grab Caspar last, since he is objectively the worst at sneaking. 

They make a clean line of nine children and are almost back into the underground when Hubert stops them. He tugs on Byleth’s sleeve and gestures towards the roofs. “Did you see that?”

Byleth frowns and furrows her brow. “Y-yes. Damn. You think she is going to tell anyone?”

Edelgard appreciates seeing her two closest friends work together like this.

“I don’t know, I’ll go talk to her,” Hubert gets up, standing tall and in plain sight of what Edelgard is guessing is an archer. He moves over to one of the ladders attached to the building and moves up it.

Edelgard, crouched behind a bush, can hardly see any of this. She looks to Byleth.

“Shamir,” Byleth grunts. “She’s on nightwatch.”

“But she didn’t shoot?” Edelgard tilts her head to the side.

“No,” Byleth nods. 

Minutes later, Hubert comes back down, stony faced as ever. He moves back into a crouch and looks to the group. “Shamir is interested in joining us, but if she leaves now someone will notice she’s missing in a half hour. So she’ll reconvene with us in Remire tomorrow.”

“This isn’t a trap?” Byleth asks.

Hubert shakes his head. “No. She believes in our cause, or rather…” He smoothly runs a gloved hand through his inky black locks. “She enjoys working with me.”

“Ha,” Byleth grins, “Okay. So we’re good to go?”

“Yes,” Hubert nods. “Apparently she is going to try to get Alois to defect.”

“Really?” Edelgard spits out. “Alois would… he is so attached. He is the new Captain of the Guard, I’m sure he’s humbled to Rhea.”

“Alois doesn’t like what the Church has done to Abyss,” Hubert says. “And strategically the more we can take from the Knights of Seiros, the weaker they’ll be. Though Catherine is surely not ever going to be one of ours… Professor, I am wondering if you’d be comfortable bringing Hanneman and Manuela into our fold.”

Byleth makes a face.

“Shamir says they’re sympathetic,” Hubert shrugs.

“I think…” Byleth bites her lip. “This sounds like a trap?”

“No,” Edelgard interrupts. For some reason, she just knows this is true. “Hanneman only loves Crests as a science, he hates them as a system. And Manuela… I think has been drifting lately. I’ve noticed her hesitation towards the assignments Seteth puts us on.”

Byleth softens. “You’re right. Sorry, I’m just so tense. Edelgard, I think it’d be healthy for you to come with me.” She looks to the others. “Will you help Hubert set up our departure in Abyss?”

The two Professors and the two Knights of Seiros readily join Edelgard’s side; meaning their time in Remire must be brief. Edelgard is certain that Seteth and Catherine will come for her soon, but still, Edelgard wishes to take the time to tell her friends the truth.

About the Flame Emperor.

About her reluctant alliance with Thales.

About her childhood and the Twin Crests.

Byleth holds Edelgard’s hand the whole time; she can feel that something is blossoming between the two of them, something that scares Edelgard more than anything else.

And it goes okay. There are some questions, but they all seem to understand why this is a war worth fighting, why the powerful people leading this nation will never yield to true justice, and thus, why they must be slain.

Dorothea, Bernadetta, and Linhardt despise violence, but they agree that nothing else can topple the status quo.

Caspar doesn’t really seem to get it, but he trusts Edelgard and will do anything for her.

Petra has hesitations fighting for a country that has imprisoned her, but she agrees that Edelgard’s ideas have value. 

Ferdinand has so many political questions for Edelgard about implementation, questions that she doesn’t have answers to, and he decides that it’s up to him to fill in the gaps for her. 

It’s truly inspiring. Recently, Edelgard’s nightmares had been replaced. She no longer dreamt of her dying family, but of the various ways her friends could learn the truth of her identity, and how they would then organize to kill her for her treachery.

It doesn’t seem real.

Emotionally exhausted, Edelgard steps outside to take a breather, but bumps him into a little boy. His older brother tries to pull him back but Edelgard waves for him to stop, and kneels down to the little boy. Though he is much smaller than her, she isn’t that much older. She’s still only a teenager.

“You’re the Emperor?” he asks.

Edelgard nods.

“Why are we going to war?” he asks suddenly.

My, how rumors spread quickly. “We just have to,” Edelgard sighs, she can’t explain it again. She’s too weary.

If rumors have spread so fast that Emperor Edelgard von Hresvelg is hiding in Remire, then the Knights of Seiros must be hot on their tail. Soon, they will come and Edelgard knows their kind. She saw what they did to the citizen’s militia that organized under Lord Lonato. She knows Rhea will kill her own people to stop troublemakers like him… or like Edelgard. 

This little boy deserves more, no, he deserves everything.

Edelgard stands tall and finds Hubert bartering over at the inn. She waves for him to come over. “We need to strike Garreg Mach now.”

“N-now?” Hubert sputters. 

“Either that or we run. Remire has suffered enough, they don’t need the Church here.”

Hubert considers it. “We need more people. If we use your Uncle’s magic we could get to Enbarr sooner and…”

Edelgard frowns. She doesn’t want that, she doesn’t want him anymore. She’s stronger than him. She knows that now because of her friends.

“...if we run, they’ll chase us. I bet they’re faster,” Hubert sighs. “I know how you feel but…”

“I understand,” Edelgard nods. “Fine, we’ll… get his help. And then come back here to take Rhea out. My worry is that this war will go on for years. If we can kill her now…”

“I understand, but let’s not be too hasty,” Hubert says. “I’m here for you, you know that, right?”

He takes her hands and she nearly trembles. But it’s okay for her to tremble, she’s human. She fights this war for humanity, and for it to even make sense, she must let herself be Edelgard. Not the fearsome Flame Emperor.

“Okay,” Edelgard says. “Let’s regroup and discuss next steps with the Eagles...

Together we ride.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I recognize that this chapter could have been longer. But I also wanted to move on haha. I have done a fic similar to this 1 chapter called " **[Together, We Ride!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20854358/chapters/49572407)** " that's focused on Byleth recruiting the Black Eagles to Edelgard's side between the Holy Tomb and the attack on Garreg Mach. If you want to know what the recruitment convos would have been like, check that out. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! This fic is done.

**Author's Note:**

> You can [follow me on Twitter](https://twitter.com/IAmLordMeatwad) for tweets about my cats and fanfic, and [follow me on Insta](https://www.instagram.com/katrinajagelski/) for similar stuff. Occasionally I do live reads for my original fiction and fanfic.


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